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Combining preparations of my final examination for the course I'm
teaching with my desire to watch all of the World Cup games left me
with little time to do any extra wrestling-related stuff. I have
updated the linked PPV details to include the main event matche(s) on
every show; this gives an idea of who the perceived "draws" are in the
industry, rightly or wrongly. I've compiled data going back to 1990,
but I haven't had the chance to HTMLize it. Next week.
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I do not offer subscriptions to a mailing list! I do not e-mail
images!
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RAW RAW on 07/06/98 was a taped show that furthered the development of
Undertaker vs. Steve Austin, which barring unforseen changes will
headline SummerSlam. After that really good triangle match last week,
they offered no particularly worthwhile wrestling this time out. In
the opener, just to show that the fan response to the idea must be
off-base, the BrawlforAll continued, with Savio Vega beating Brakus in
the third waste of time in the tournament. At least, I think it's a
tournament, 'cause Jim Ross talks about people "advancing." As has
been reported everywhere, the WWF figured that having these one-minute
shoots might be a way for somebody to get over as a Bill Goldberg-like
dominant force. Guys that are already over will not appear in the
tournament, which explains why at this point we've seen Steve
Blackman, Marc Mero, Justin Bradshaw, Mark Canterbury, Brakus, Savio
Vega, Hawk, and Darren Drosdov. Nobody would argue that any of them
are over. Okay, I'll change that: anybody who would argue that any of
these guys are over should be ignored or laughed at.
Ken Shamrock beat Jeff Jarrett by DQ when Mabel, formerly of Men on a
Mission, interfered. You see, all the old King of the Rings are coming
out of the woodwork to take on Shamrock. Mabel did a depressing splash
on Shamrock, and the commentators act like it was an incredible move.
At least Shamrock looked good, as usual. Vader vs. Bradshaw was
interrupted by Kane & Mankind running in.
DOA beat the Head Bangers. Poor Paul Ellering tried to convince us
that the DOA were the futuristic version of the prehistoric LOD. I
like the angle of the mentor turning on the aging and lousy students,
but he could at least be given a good team. In a bit of a shocker,
D-Lo Brown got a pin on Terry Funk, although it was a little screwy.
Somebody wrote a letter into the Observer this week lamenting that
Terry Funk looks like a fossil when he isn't involved in a garbage
wrestling match. Yeah, and seeing him do garbage wrestling matches
makes me sad as well.
Hawk drew Darren Drosdov in the BrawlforAll tournament. How does that
draw and the lack of advancement of either of these guys affect the
tournament? Who knows? Nobody talked about it. These things are so bad
because the commentators don't know the results. The usual accuracy in
describing key spots is lost and they end up questioning whether
certain takedowns will count, etc. As Dustin Runnels & Val Venis were
having a boring match, Kaientai interrupted in less three minutes so
that Wally Yamaguchi-san could attack Venis and screw up an interview
five or six times. Not only is Venis using Rick Rude's hip swivel,
he's even using his old story lines. Still, it was sort of funny.
(Nobody will get this, but I felt like I was watching a smaller,
Japanese version of garbage wrestling fanatic Sanjay Mohanta living
out his dream.) Anyhow, earlier on they had set up a Sable vs.
Jacqueline bikini contest for the Fully Loaded PPV. As the model
playing Mrs. Yamaguchi acted mildly concerned about the condition of
Venis, I couldn't help but think that she would probably kill either
of the bikini contest contestants.
Ken Shamrock disposed of Mabel, who will hopefully never be seen
again. Finally, at the behest of Vince McMahon, Kane & Undertaker &
Mankind had a triangle match to decide who should be number one
contender. That was supposed to happen...Undertaker didn't show and
Mankind refused to fight his buddy Kane. But Kane attacked and quickly
pinned Mankind only to unmask and reveal the Undertaker. How did the
Undertaker get into his brother's drawers? We have no idea. Did he
leave Kane laying in the back? I guess so. Eventually, they do plan to
team the two "brothers."
Nitro Nitro on 07/06/98 aired as a two-hour show in Canada on TSN.
There were a couple of good wrestling segments, but all of the hype
was on Goldberg challenging Hulk Hogan for the WCW title. In the
opener, Booker T beat Dean Malenko when Chris Jericho distracted Dean
by taunting him over the microphone. Kanyon & Raven went to no
decision when Saturn & Lodi both interfered. Chris Jericho faced
Ultimo Dragon; Dean Malenko ran in and ended up being carried off.
Public Enemy faced Disco Inferno & Alex Wright. Darn it all, they
decided to use Ultimo Dragon's student Tokyo Magnum and put him in the
embarrassing role of an Alex Wright groupie, dancing at ringside.
Sigh. Magnum ended up taking the double tables bump and Alex & Disco
attacked PEs from behind.
Bill Goldberg beat Scott Hall in a match that Hulk Hogan added, saying
that he would only face Goldberg if he could win. With internal
pressure to move Hall back to the Wölfpac, it would appear that Hogan
will now turn on Hall, dumping him from the NWO Hollywood because he
couldn't hold off Goldberg. Diamond Dallas Page beat Jim Neidhart. Lex
Luger & Sting beat Kidman & Sick Boy. Bill Goldberg beat Hulk Hogan to
win the WCW title in a typically poor WCW world title match. They
really did a minimal amount of work. Karl Malone stopped Curt Hennig
from interfering, by hitting a Diamond Cutter. There was a huge pop
for the finish, which was the right result to go with.
As a show, I really only enjoyed the Jericho-based stuff. Obviously,
most discussion revolves around how Hulk Hogan was convinced to drop
the title to Goldberg. Reports are that WCW will attempt a run with
Goldberg as champion; should his charm fade, Hogan has been promised
the first victory over Goldberg. Bret Hart is also ruffled by the
title change, since he had been told that they were slow-brewing a
Hart vs. Hogan title match for late in the year.
Thunder Thunder on 07/08/98 opened with Public Enemy beating Tokyo
Magnum & Nobunaga. Magnum continued to dance like Alex Wright.
Nobunaga takes the double tables bump. Alex Wright & Disco Inferno ran
in and laid out the PEs; something tells me that's an added tag match
for the PPV on Sunday.
Ernest Miller beat Villano IV, even though Villano V did the switch to
help his brother earn a win. Juventud Guerrera beat Judo Suwa only to
be beaten up by the flock. Konnan beat Stevie Ray by DQ when Stevie
hit him with a chair. Okay, leave your mind at home: a chair shot is a
DQ, but the double tables is okay and the garbagy tag match that comes
next is also okay. Raven & Horace beat Saturn & Kanyon in a really
garbagy match with way too much stuff happening. Saturn was powdered
in the eyes by Lodi and ended up hitting an elbow onto a table on
Kanyon. Junk. Steve McMichael delivered another masterpiece
performance against Rick Ruller. That's sarcasm, kids. Chris Jericho
beat Ultimo Dragon in a good, albeit short, match.
Diamond Dallas Page was supposed to face Curt Hennig. But, you see, at
the last minute they decided to change the line-up for the Bash at the
Beach on Sunday. The tag match is split and Hennig now faces Goldberg
in a singles match. Hennig, of course, doesn't want to face DDP a few
days before Goldberg. The show had several bits talking about Hennig
contacting his lawyers. In the end, he had a legal letter saying that
he didn't have to wrestle. Of course, he ended up attacking DDP
anyhow. One minute later, Goldberg's music started up and Hennig
looked all scared. Ugh.
While I'm still on Goldberg, I've got to say that the chants that play
over the house speakers only work well infrequently. Whenever they
show a crowd shot and nobody is screaming, it exposes the whole thing.
- WCW has Bash at the Beach on 07/12/98. Tentative line-up has:
* Hulk Hogan & Dennis Rodman vs. Diamond Dallas Page & Karl Malone
* Bill Goldberg vs. Curt Hennig for the WCW Title
* Kevin Greene vs. Giant
* Sting & Luger vs. Scott Hall & Disciple for the WCW Tag Titles
* Chris Jericho vs. Rey Misterio Jr. for the Cruiserweight Title
* Bret Hart vs. Booker T for the TV Title
* Raven vs. Saturn
* Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Eddie Guerrero in a hair vs. hair match
* Stevie Ray vs. Chris Benoit
Amazing how that undercard has fleshed out to include some really good
stuff.
- The WWF has In Your House on 07/26/98.
- Last week's review of the King of the Ring drew a lot of e-mail
response. This web page is read by a lot of people each week, but it's
rare that so many are driven to respond. Responses were split in two.
Just over half of the people who found themselves moved enough to
write me sent heartfelt agreements. The (by no means small) minority
of writers flamed me for criticizing what they thought was the best
PPV of the year. One fellow even went over the edge himself, saying
that the show featured four * * * * * matches (without listing them).
Anyhow, this week's Observer offered a * * * 1/4 rating for Ken
Shamrock vs. Rocky Maivia, close to my * * * suggestion (although, I
would lean towards taking a 1/4* away as opposed to adding it). The
undercard featured a couple of * * -ish efforts along with two
negatively-rated matches. I've said time and time again that I can't
rate garbage wrestling matches. Meltzer gave the Mankind vs.
Undertaker match * * * * 1/2 (a 1/2* less than the Undertaker vs.
Michaels Hell in the Cell match). He gave the title match * * * 1/4 .
Just in case anybody reads anything into my reviews, and judging from
some of the e-mails there are few people who do, everybody can like
whatever he or she wants. I feel silly pointing out this obvious
truth. The focus of my wrestling fanaticism has pretty much always
been work and workrate. Removed from the garbage wrestling framework,
that's what star ratings assess.
-
- Nitro beat RAW on 07/06 with a 4.8 rating versus a 4.0 rating.
The detailed ratings are a click away. I still haven't managed to
update them; but, hey, I've updated the PPV figures.
- PPV buy rates, revenue (in millions), and match statistics for the
WWF, WCW, and ECW are presented in the following 1998 summary sheet:
Show Data Match Rating Data
Date Show Buy Rate Gross Mean Median Peak % >= * * * *
WWF
98/05/31 IYH Over The Edge 0.65
(preliminary) $2.90 1.06 1/2* * * * * 1/2*
Steve Austin vs. Dude Love 13%
(1 of 8)
98/04/19 IYH Unforgiven 0.85 $3.78 1.75 * * * * *
Steve Austin vs. Dude Love 14%
(1 of 7)
98/03/29 WrestleMania 2.2
(WWF figure?) $9.52 1.81 * 1/2 * * * 1/4
Austin vs. Michaels,
Cactus & Funk vs. NAO 0%
(0 of 8)
98/02/15 IYH No Way Out 0.45 $1.67 1.43 * 1/2 * * * 1/2
HHH & NAO & Vega vs. Austin & Owen & Cactus & Funk 0%
(0 of 7)
98/01/18 Royal Rumble 0.97
(1.03 claimed) $3.62 2.38 * * 1/2 * * * 1/2
Rumble,
Max Mini & Nova & Mosaic vs. Battalion & Torio & Tarantula 0%
(0 of 6)
Last 6 months 0.92 $3.83 1.5 1.46 3.63 4.5%
(2 of 44)
1998 Average 1.02 $4.3 1.65 1.70 3.75 5.6%
(2 of 36)
WCW
98/05/17 Slamboree 0.72 $3.20 1.92 * * 1/2 * * * 1/4
Chris Benoit vs. Fit Finley,
Chris Jericho vs. Dean Malenko,
Eddie Guerrero vs. Ultimo Dragon 0%
(0 of 9)
98/04/19 Spring Stampede 0.72 $3.20 2.4 * * 1/2 * * * *
Ultimo Dragon vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr.,
DDP vs. Raven 20%
(2 of 10)
98/03/15 Uncensored 1.1 $4.12 1.69 * * 1/2 * * * 3/4
Chris Benoit vs. DDP vs. Raven 0%
(0 of 9)
98/02/22 SuperBrawl 1.1
(preliminary) $4.12 1.68 * 1/4 * * * 3/4
Juventud Guerrera vs. Chris Jericho 0%
(0 of 10)
98/01/25 Souled Out 1.02
$3.81 1.92 * * * * *
Chavo & Calo & Lizmark vs. Juventud & Parka & Dandy 11.1%
(1 of 9)
Last 6 Months 1.04 $4.01 1.77 1.71 3.58 5.5%
(3 of 55)
1998 Average 0.93 $3.69 1.93 1.95 3.75 6.4%
(3 of 47)
ECW
98/05/03 WrestlePalooza 0.24 $0.45 0.64 1/2* * *
Mikey Whippreck vs. Justin Credible 0%
(0 of 7)
98/03/01 Living Dangerously 0.23 $0.42 1.56 * * * * * 1/2*
Dudleys vs. Spike & New Jack vs. Rotten & Mahoney 0%
(0 of 8)
Last 6 Months 0.24 $0.44 1.13 1.25 2.63 0%
(0 of 15)
1998 Average 0.24 $0.44 1.13 1.25 2.63 0%
(0 of 15)
Longer-term data is available. Next week, I'll add an update to
this page.
A table of wrestlers who have delivered quality matches is also
online.
- WCW has Road Wild on 08/08/98.
- The WWF has SummerSlam on 08/30/98. Jerry Springer is expected to be
involved in the show.
- WCW has Fall Brawl on 09/13/98.
- The WWF has In Your House on 09/27/98.
- The WWF has In Your House on 10/18/98.
- WCW has Halloween Havoc on 10/25/98.
- The WWF has Survivor Series on 11/15/98.
- WCW has World War III on 11/22/98.
- The WWF has In Your House on 12/13/98.
- WCW has Starrcade on 12/27/98.
- Videos: I have posted something about the availability of videos. If
you missed it, I'll send it to you in e-mail upon request.
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Pictures of the Week
Three new pictures in honour of the insane stunt man of the week. Go
to the Pics page to see the full selection, with thumbnails or
without.
Cactus Jack Cactus Jack Cactus Jack
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Thanks to: Masaki Aso.
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If you have any feedback regarding my web pages, please send me
e-mail. Don't forget to delete the leading "x" from my e-mail address;
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